Spermaceti

Spermaceti, a wax, liquid at body temperature, obtained from the head of a sperm whale or bottlenose whale. Spermaceti was used chiefly in ointments, cosmetic creams, fine wax candles, pomades, and textile finishing; later it was used for industrial lubricants. The substance was named in the mistaken belief that it was the coagulated semen of the whale.

The fluid contained in the spermaceti organ of the whale’s head was removed to obtain crude sperm oil. The spermaceti was separated from the oil by chilling in a process whalers called wintering; it congealed as a white crystalline, waxy solid. Chemically, pure spermaceti consists principally of cetyl palmitate and other esters of fatty acids with fatty alcohols and melts at about 44 °C (111 °F). The former official unit of illumination, the candlepower, was defined as the light given off by a candle of pure spermaceti burning at a rate of 7.776 grams (120 grains) per hour.

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the largest of the toothed whales, easily recognized by its enormous square head and narrow lower jaw. The sperm whale is dark blue-gray or brownish, with white patches on the belly. It is thickset and has small paddlelike flippers and a series of rounded humps on its back. Males attain a maximum...

any of four species of beaked whales distinguished by a bulbous forehead that drops sharply to the base of the beak. All inhabit deep offshore waters and eat squid, fish, and various bottom-dwelling animals. Bottlenose whales are capable of long, deep dives; biologists recorded the dive of one...

pale yellow oil obtained with spermaceti from the head cavity (spermaceti organ) and blubber of the sperm whale. Formerly used as a superior lighting oil and later as a lubricant, it was little used in the modern period apart from in certain toiletries and pharmaceuticals, although in 1950 advances...